Justice News

West Seneca Man Sentenced On Child Pornography Charge

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Joseph S. Heleniak, 72, of West Seneca, NY, who was convicted of possession of child pornography, was sentenced to 120 months in prison and lifetime supervised release by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who handled the case, stated that between August 30, 2013 and September 1, 2013, the defendant knowingly possessed images of child pornography that were stored on his AOL email account after obtaining them over the internet. Some of the images depicted prepubescent minors. Heleniak was previously convicted of possession of child pornography in 2005 in the Western District of New York and sentenced to 30 months in prison.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Adam S. Cohen, Special Agent in Charge, and the Cheektowaga Police Department under the direction of Chief David Zack. The task force includes the Buffalo Police Department, the Cheektowaga Police Department, and the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office.